Winemaker Notes
The wine offers aromas of dark cherry, morels, anise, wild strawberries, and rose petals. On the palate, it reveals pomegranate, iron, cranberry, peppercorn, raspberry, and forest floor. The overall impression is a complex and structured Pinot Noir, red fruit-driven yet balanced by Old-World notes of iron, spice, and earthy undertones.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very deep and spicy nose with great strawberry and red currant fruit, plus a slew of delicately spicy aromas. Then comes the rich and concentrated medium-bodied palate that is seriously elegant. Long, compact and very well-structured finish. From this producer’s estate vineyard that is at a high altitude with volcanic basalt soil. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drinkable now, but best from 2026.
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Wine Spectator
Generous and polished, with multilayered raspberry and guava flavors accented by mint and dusky spices as this finishes with refined tannins. Drink now through 2032. 500 cases made.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.